Elementary Focus Group:Nicole (minor assist from Dr. Y -- nice job!)
Interactive Writing: How Language & Literacy Come Together by McCarrier, Pinnell, & Fountain
Scenario:
Your principal has sent you to a professional development workshop on Interactive Writing, because writing scores are low at your elementary school and she wants your faculty to implement this strategy with students to bring a greater focus to writing in the curriculum. Remember, you may want to start a Google Doc first.
Your responsibility:
Now your principal has charged you with the responsibility of presenting a brief overview/introduction to Interactive Writing to selected members of your elementary school faculty! “Hit the highlights and give them takeaways!” she says. Given this charge, please address the following questions below:
- What is the Writing Process associated with Interactive Writing? (see the other important information category below as well)
1. A writer needs a purpose or reason for writing.
Why am I writing this?
2. A writer thinks about the audience.
Who is going to read this?
What information does the reader need to know?
3. A writer selects a form for writing.
List
Story
Sign
Letter
4. A writer decides on a message.
What do I want to say?
How do I want to say it?
Composing
5. A writer constructs text to express the message.
Forming letters
Arranging letters into words
Writing left to right and from top to bottom
Using spaces to separate words
6. A writer reflects and evaluates during the process.
Rereads the text
Editing
Revising
7. A writer considers text layout.
Punctuation
Paragraphs
Conventions to help make their writing clear to the reader
- What are the Key Features of Interactive Writing?
1. Group children based on their learning goals.
Whole group- helps build a community of learners, engage students on different levels, support and challenge them all
Small group- work closely with strengths and needs, focus on a concept
2. Write for authentic purposes.
Writing a morning message
Summarize or extend a story that has been read aloud
Write a survey question that children in the class will answer
Add to or summarize a story read in a guided reading session
Label art or classroom item
Write a letter to an individual or to another class
Record information from a science or math study
3. Share the task of writing.
Involve individual students in conversation and writing
Group writing is used to present examples
4. Use conversation to support the process.
Interactive writing is based on oral language.
Engage students in conversation about the topic.
Discuss the purpose of their writing.
Talk about writing the message and agree on the language to use.
Talk about the conventions of writing (how to write what they want to say).
Comment on interesting features of words.
Make text-to-text connections.
Make text-to-self connections.
The interactive writing process is an ongoing conversation between the teacher and students.
5. Create a common text.
The teacher and students write one text together.
The writing should be visible to all students such as on an easel or smartboard.
The message should be clear to the audience.
Everyone shares in deciding what should be said.
6. Use the conventions of written language.
Initial writing (prewriting) might not have conventional spelling.
Writing through interactive writing is meant to be read by students independently later, therefore words should be spelled correctly and punctuation should be correct.
7. Make letter-sound connections.
Interactive writing supports phonemic awareness so students can put sounds to letters.
Use references (charts, word walls, alphabet strip, etc.)
8. Connect reading to writing.
What you say can be written down and what you write can be read.
Students continually move from writing to reading, back to writing.
Children learn to monitor the message they are creating to be sure it says what they want it to say.
They anticipate what the next words will be.
They learn to keep the meaning of the whole text in mind.
Students will need to reread several times.
9. Teach explicitly.
Before, during, and after writing, discuss specific issues you want the students to learn.
Discuss the summary and restate the key points.
- What is the distinction the authors make between composing v. constructing?
1. Composing
Students think of ways to put words together to express meaning.
Listen and evaluate what they and others say while writing aloud
Think of different ways to start the writing.
Think of at least 2 different words that mean the same and choosing which one to write.
Build on previous writing
Reread to decide what they will write next
Keep the audience in mind as they write
Revise while writing
Use punctuation to make the text clearer.
Use adjectives to make the message more interesting.
Composing a text in interactive writing is a negotiation between the teacher and students through discussion and guided planning.
Composition includes the production of pictures that accompany the text.
2. Constructing
Writing the actual words
Learn to differentiate print and pictures
Directional movement
The concept of a word
The concept of first and last
Using spaces to define words
Learning the functions of punctuation
3. Composing and constructing
Composing and constructing happen alternately. Students go from meaning to details, back to meaning.
Helps students gain a sense of sentence structure
Summary:Composing is deciding on a message! What to say and how to say it! Constructing is the act of constructing the text -- forming the letters, arranging them into words on a page, etc.
- What other important information do you think your faculty needs to know as an introduction to this strategy?
1. Steps in interactive writing (perhaps the writing process associated with Interactive Writing)
Experience- provide background information and engage students in interesting topics
Talking- determine a text’s purpose
Composing- help students decide what to write
Constructing- engage students in writing the message
Rereading- teach children to check their writing
Summarizing- focus on what was learned
Revisiting- notice the details of the text
Extending- help students understand the uses of writing
Elementary Focus Group: Nicole (minor assist from Dr. Y -- nice job!)
Interactive Writing: How Language & Literacy Come Together by McCarrier, Pinnell, & Fountain
Scenario:
Your principal has sent you to a professional development workshop on Interactive Writing, because writing scores are low at your elementary school and she wants your faculty to implement this strategy with students to bring a greater focus to writing in the curriculum. Remember, you may want to start a Google Doc first.
Your responsibility:
Now your principal has charged you with the responsibility of presenting a brief overview/introduction to Interactive Writing to selected members of your elementary school faculty! “Hit the highlights and give them takeaways!” she says. Given this charge, please address the following questions below:
- What is the Writing Process associated with Interactive Writing? (see the other important information category below as well)
1. A writer needs a purpose or reason for writing.- Why am I writing this?
2. A writer thinks about the audience.- Who is going to read this?
- What information does the reader need to know?
3. A writer selects a form for writing.- List
- Story
- Sign
- Letter
4. A writer decides on a message.- What do I want to say?
- How do I want to say it?
- Composing
5. A writer constructs text to express the message.- Forming letters
- Arranging letters into words
- Writing left to right and from top to bottom
- Using spaces to separate words
6. A writer reflects and evaluates during the process.- Rereads the text
- Editing
- Revising
7. A writer considers text layout.- What are the Key Features of Interactive Writing?
1. Group children based on their learning goals.- Whole group- helps build a community of learners, engage students on different levels, support and challenge them all
- Small group- work closely with strengths and needs, focus on a concept
2. Write for authentic purposes.- Writing a morning message
- Summarize or extend a story that has been read aloud
- Write a survey question that children in the class will answer
- Add to or summarize a story read in a guided reading session
- Label art or classroom item
- Write a letter to an individual or to another class
- Record information from a science or math study
3. Share the task of writing.- Involve individual students in conversation and writing
- Group writing is used to present examples
4. Use conversation to support the process.- Interactive writing is based on oral language.
- Engage students in conversation about the topic.
- Discuss the purpose of their writing.
- Talk about writing the message and agree on the language to use.
- Talk about the conventions of writing (how to write what they want to say).
- Comment on interesting features of words.
- Make text-to-text connections.
- Make text-to-self connections.
- The interactive writing process is an ongoing conversation between the teacher and students.
5. Create a common text.- The teacher and students write one text together.
- The writing should be visible to all students such as on an easel or smartboard.
- The message should be clear to the audience.
- Everyone shares in deciding what should be said.
6. Use the conventions of written language.- Initial writing (prewriting) might not have conventional spelling.
- Writing through interactive writing is meant to be read by students independently later, therefore words should be spelled correctly and punctuation should be correct.
7. Make letter-sound connections.- Interactive writing supports phonemic awareness so students can put sounds to letters.
- Use references (charts, word walls, alphabet strip, etc.)
8. Connect reading to writing.- What you say can be written down and what you write can be read.
- Students continually move from writing to reading, back to writing.
- Children learn to monitor the message they are creating to be sure it says what they want it to say.
- They anticipate what the next words will be.
- They learn to keep the meaning of the whole text in mind.
- Students will need to reread several times.
9. Teach explicitly.- What is the distinction the authors make between composing v. constructing?
1. Composing- Students think of ways to put words together to express meaning.
- Listen and evaluate what they and others say while writing aloud
- Think of different ways to start the writing.
- Think of at least 2 different words that mean the same and choosing which one to write.
- Build on previous writing
- Reread to decide what they will write next
- Keep the audience in mind as they write
- Revise while writing
- Use punctuation to make the text clearer.
- Use adjectives to make the message more interesting.
- Composing a text in interactive writing is a negotiation between the teacher and students through discussion and guided planning.
- Composition includes the production of pictures that accompany the text.
2. Constructing- Writing the actual words
- Learn to differentiate print and pictures
- Directional movement
- The concept of a word
- The concept of first and last
- Using spaces to define words
- Learning the functions of punctuation
3. Composing and constructing
Summary: Composing is deciding on a message! What to say and how to say it!Constructing is the act of constructing the text -- forming the letters, arranging them into words on a page, etc.
- What other important information do you think your faculty needs to know as an introduction to this strategy?
1. Steps in interactive writing (perhaps the writing process associated with Interactive Writing)